


Taking Care

by Ruquas



Series: Clint Barton Bingo [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Clint Barton Bingo, Fluff, Insecurity, M/M, Service Kink, Service Submission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 02:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18326723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruquas/pseuds/Ruquas
Summary: It didn‘t matter if the others understood. Well, others than Tony and maybe Tasha. Phil did, that was enough.





	Taking Care

The first few times he hadn‘t thought much of it. Put it aside and just filled it away like he did with most things that were a bit off without being too much. Clint had been in a household where it had been expected from him to take care of things and Phil doubted that it had been different at the circus where everyone had to pull their weight. And it was just coffee, after all. Freshly brewed coffe, perfectly mixed with just a tad sugar and milk. But still, just coffee.

\- * - * -

„He likes you. Ask him out. Just get the fucking tension out of the office.“, Nick stated a few weeks later during lunch, not blinking an eye, not caring about the shocked look a man on the next table gave him. Phil just looked at the man in front of him, not even denying that he knew who Nick was talking about.

„And what makes you so sure of it?“

„You mean next to the fact that the kid brings you coffee and lunch just like you like it? Or the crushed look when you told him you would eat outside the office today so he wouldn‘t need to bring anything for you? Or do you mean the way he‘s blushing when you compliment him? Oh, or let‘s talk about the fact that the kid would blow you if you...“

„The hell, shut it!“, Phil almost screamed, at least as shocked as the people sitting nearby. Nick just looked innocently at him while taking a sip of his coffee. No man looking as intimidating as Nick Fury should be able to look as innocent as he did just now.

„Just saying, Cheese. Just saying.“

\- * - * -

It just became even more obvious the following weeks. And not only for Phil, for every other agent near him, too, that Clint always seemed to be nearby, ready to do whatever Phil asked of him. He‘d gotten used of the quite good lunch Clint brought into his office almost every day when he wasn‘t on a mission (and even then he mostly made sure that there was always something to eat for Phil). And yes, after Nick had pointed it out he could see that Clint always smiled when Phil thanked or complimented him and that he looked kind of crushed when Phil didn‘t say anything.

„Why?“

Clint stopped in his movements while he put lunch on Phil‘s desk, looking almost panicked.

„Sir?“

„I mean, I appreciate that you bring me lunch because no matter what it is, it‘s delicious. And that you bring me coffee or that you‘re trying to organize my office – don‘t look at me like that, of course I noticed it. I just really want to know why, because you don‘t have to earn your stay, you know that, right?“

Clint set the food container down and fidgeted slightly in front of him.

„I know that, Sir. I just like… well, doing that. You don‘t have to react to it if you just appreciate it, but if it makes you uncomfortable...“, Clint trailed of, looking down. Phil sighed and pointed to the couch where Clint usually sat during his lunch. Clint nodded and sat down, still looking nervous. Phil got up and sat down next to the young man.

„I like it, so don‘t worry about it. I wanted to ask you out, but to be honest, I don‘t know if you would answer honest because you think you owe me something.“

Clint‘s head shot up, looking with big eyes at Phil. Then he shook his head.

„No, I‘d like to o out with you. Not because what you‘ve done for me. But...“, Clint hesitated, his eyes darting from Phil‘s face to the food container on the desk.

„I like doing things for other people, well, at least when I like them. I really like it, probably more than I should. It gives me satisfaction to make their lives a bit easier, you know? Not that your life is… And if it‘s something that‘s creeping you out, I can understand that and tone it down but I‘m not sure if I can stop it completely.“

Phil nodded and thought about it. He heard of it, of course. Just because he looked like your typical office clerk didn‘t mean that he never heard of people who enjoyed those things. He just didn‘t knew if he would enjoy it and if he did, to which extend.

„That won‘t be a problem, I think. I can‘t promise you if it‘s something I like and if I do, how much of it I like. But we can see where this will lead us, okay?“

Clint nodded and Phil stood up again, didn‘t resist the urge to stroke Clint‘s hair like he did so many other times. It felt really soft.

„Is Saturday okay for you? Around 6pm?“

Clint nodded again and Phil opened his lunch. Grilled chicken with rice and steamed vegetables.

„Where to? Were are we meeting?“

Phil thought shortly about it before he decided to test something.

„You plan it, I need to finish a few things on until Saturday. It would be a great help if you decide, you have a much better taste regarding food and restaurants. We can meet here, if that‘s okay and then go where ever you want to.“

Clint nodded, a slight blush on his cheeks.

\- * - * -

The date went… good. Better than Clint expected, to be honest. And the dates afterwards, too. Phil even let him continue making lunch and allowed him to bring him more coffee. He forbid Clint to change his filing system, which was quite a shame, but he could live with that. So here he was now, almost three months after their first date, kneeling next to Phil and trying to think about a way to ask Phil if he wanted to do… more. If he would let Clint do more. If not, that was okay. He really didn‘t want to get on Phil‘s nerves. He just wanted to make everything… easier. He was just thankful that Phil already let him do what he did. He didn‘t even batted an eye when Clint asked him if he could kneel next Phil on most days instead of sitting next to him.

„Spit it out.“

„Hu?“, Clint answered and could slap himself for his stupid reaction. But he didn‘t. Phil hated it when he got hurt and Clint doubted that it excluded self inflicted damage.

„You‘re thinking about something, darling. Just tell me what it is so I don‘t think I did something wrong.“, Phil prodded slightly with a smile. Clint shook his head. Phil could probably everything he wanted and he wouldn‘t do anything wrong.

„No… I just thought about… us.“, he finished lamely. When Phil just raised an eyebrow and padded the seat next to him on the couch, Clint sighed and got up. Phil made clear that serious conversations would be handled as equals. And while it was probably the right thing to do, that was exactly what some of his thoughts were about.

„I‘d like to do more, you know? I love what we have, what you let me do, I really do. I just want to do more for you. Make everything easier for you, as good as possible, if you know what I mean? Not that you‘re doing a bad job with it, you‘re obviously a grown man, I just… And… to be… you know, when we‘re in bed? How you… just lead? Order me to do things?“, Clint asked, feeling the blush spreading across his face, down his neck. He couldn‘t even look into Phil‘s eyes.

„Yeah. If you don‘t like it we can...“, Phil began but Clint shook his head and the other man fell silent.

„No, that‘s not it. I like it. And maybe… only here, not outside, I don‘t know if I‘d like that, so just when we‘re together in our homes at the moment, and just if you want to, but I thought that maybe...“

Clint stopped and shook his head. It‘s not important. He shouldn‘t get greedy, Phil already gave him enough. A hand rested on his cheek, stroking his face carefully.

„Okay, I‘ll sum it up, just to see if I understood it correctly. You want to relieve me of more chores, not because you think I can‘t do it but because you would like to do it. And you would like me to be stricter with you, order you around but only if we‘re not at work or outside of my or your apartment, maybe even give you a few rules. Is that correct?“

Clint nodded, looking up and smiling at Phil. Phil understood!

„Yes, please.“

Phil nodded, looking thoughtful for a second before nodding again.

„You know that I still want to spoil you from time to time, because I also like to do things for you, that I would never put you down for the things you want or the things you‘re doing? And that I‘m still your handler at work?“

„Yes, I know and understand that. I‘m not against a bit humiliation, but not too much, but still...“

„I meant putting you down when it‘s outside the bedroom or… whatever we agree to.“

„Oh. That‘s good. Thank you.“, Clint murmured. He hadn‘t even thought about that. It was just… normal that a few things weren‘t good enough when he did them. 

„But you still want to talk about it?“, he asked, unsure.

„Of course I still want to talk about us. And we will see what we can add. Let‘s just discuss what exactly you want to do for me and note it down. And I want you to create a folder where you write the tasks down and sort them if it‘s a weekly one or something that repeats itself monthly, okay?“

Clint nodded again and stood up, looking for a pen and a notepad. Phil liked it when they noted down what they discussed about those things.

\- * - * -

7 years later

„Seriously, what are you doing there?“

Clint sighed and batted the hand away.

„Nothing, Tony. Just meal planning for the next week.“

„Yeah, I see that, but why? And what are the other colors?“

Clint suppressed a scream. Why he‘d thought to do it here, in the kitchen at the tower was still a mystery for him. Probably because he‘d done it the last few weeks, too. And Tony never ever came to the kitchen at half past five pm just to grab something to eat. Literally never.

„Leave the man alone. He does this every week since I‘ve known him.“, Natasha said, curled up in the living room, watching Thor playing Mario Smash.

„It looks like the budget my mum made every week.“, Steve said, looking over his shoulder.

Clint sighed and nodded.

„It is. The colors just mean what chore I need to do on which day. Green for example means to change the bed sheets while red means that I have to go grocery shopping. The colors mean always the same thing, I just change the time slot depending on my schedule or if Phil already has something different planned.“, Clint explained, showing the plan to Tony who just studied it with his eyebrows drawn together.

„Is that the reason you won‘t have the groceries delivered? You know that you can just put it in the phone I gave to you? The fancy phone other people would kill for?“, Tony asked while nipping on his long cold toast before he looked confused up. The same look on Steve‘s face.

„And… what exactly is Agent Coulson doing?“, Steve asked softly, almost as if he was afraid to scare Clint away.

„It‘s my plan.“, Clint answered while closing the folder and standing up. „If you don‘t like it, leave it alone.“

A grin spread on Tony‘s face before he began to laugh.

„Well, who would‘ve thought that?“

Well, at least Steve‘s attention had wandered to Tony now. Maybe Tony would also explain it, he seemed… at least to understand the situation. Clint drove up to their apartment. Phil already sat on the couch looking through a file. Carefully, Clint opened the folder on the correct side and laid it down for Phil to check before he went to the kitchen and fetched a glass of juice for Phil, noting down that he needed to buy some from the store on Thursday before walking back to Phil and kneeling down next his boyfriend, holding the glass up just in case Phil want‘s some.

„The budget looks good, darling, but you have to change the schedule on Friday. No cooking, we‘re going out.“, Phil said and took the glass from him, began to pet Clint with the other hand. 

„Yes Sir. You want me to book somewhere special?“

Phil laughed lightly and Clint‘s eyes shot open. Did he forget something? He couldn‘t have forgotten a meeting, they were always programmed into his StarkPhone, even though Tony thought he didn‘t knew how to use it. 

„It‘s our anniversary, Clint.“, Phil spoke quietly, sending a shiver down Clint‘s spine. He forgot. Fuck. A small whimper escaped him.

„But don‘t worry about it. I already made reservation.“

He felt the tears welling up in his eyes. He forgot. Again. Just like the last year and the last year before that. He always forgot that those dates were important for others.

„Shh, everything‘s fine.“, Phil whispered and pressed a kiss to Clint‘s head.

„You‘ve been such a good boy for me, you won‘t get punished for it. Quite the opposite. It‘s my turn to take care of you on Friday, okay? You‘ve been taking care of me the last year and I decided that I want to take care of you this Friday, okay.“

Carefully, Clint nodded and relaxed a bit next to Phil, standing up when he noticed that the juice was empty to refill the glass.

It didn‘t matter if the others understood. Well, others than Tony and maybe Tasha. Phil did, that was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Clint Barton Bingo, found on Tumblr and here on AO3


End file.
